Ganta to attend SVU convocation today

• 1,907 students will get degrees and 142 gold medals to be presented
• SVU to present honorary doctorate to Kamlesh D Patel

Tirupati: The 56th and 57th convocation of Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) will be held on Sunday in which the President of Hyderabad-based Shri Ram Chandra Mission, Kamlesh Desaibhai Patel will be the chief guest-cum-orator. 

He will be conferred the Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa), said Vice-Chancellor Prof A Damodaram. Speaking to the media in his chambers on Saturday, the V-C said that the Chancellor and Governor ESL Narasimhan has authorised him to conduct the proceedings and award degrees and medals. 

The Minister for Human Resources Development Ganta Srinivasa Rao will participate as special guest of honour.

He said that Kamlesh Desaibhai Patel did post-graduation in M Pharm from Gujarat University and has built a very successful pharmaceutical business in New York City which continues to thrive and expand today. 

He has been the Managing Trustee of Sahaj Marg Spirituality Foundation and founder of Heartfulness Institute, Heartfulness Education Trust and Brighter Minds. 

He has been spreading the heartfulness way of meditation to lakhs of people around the world and guiding spiritual seekers in more than 130 countries. 

He has also conducted several programmes in colleges and universities to provide the Heartfulness techniques of relaxation, meditation, mental detoxification and inner connection so that students and faculty alike learn to manage their emotions and become balanced and successful individuals. 

Prof Damodaram has added that altogether 1,907 students will receive their degrees which includes 1,031 students, who will take in person, during the 56th and 57th convocation while 276 will be awarded the degrees in absentia. 

Another 600 students received degrees in advance. Also, 142 gold medals and 86 prizes will be awarded at the convocation.

He underlined the development initiatives during his three-year tenure as V-C which comes to an end on October 30 and said that with the able guidance of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was the alumni of SVU from time to time the SVU achieved several milestones and secured several ranks nationally and internationally. 

In September 2018, the varsity stood at 801-1,000 ranking bracket in Times Higher Education world universities ranking. 

It has successfully hosted 104th Indian Science Congress, 99th Indian Economic Association annual conference, 91st annual general meeting of All India Vice-Chancellors, first Gnana Bheri programme in the State in which about 20,000 students took part among several other events. 

The V-C has said that SVU got Rs 100 crore RUSA funds and another Rs 20 crore along with other universities. In 64 years of SVU history, this was the first time it got Central funds of that magnitude, he stated.